An Edmonton courtroom has heard a chilling 911 call from a woman who says she was the first to call for help when she found her friend, Gina Robinson, fatally injured at the home of Robinson’s estranged husband.

Gilbert Paul Robinson is on trial accused of second-degree murder in Gina Robinson's death. He has pleaded not guilty.

In the 911 call, Robinson’s friend Denise Snowden speaks to an emergency dispatcher, trying desperately to get help.

Robinson had been in the process of divorcing her husband. Snowden testified Thursday that her friend was afraid of her estranged husband, so the two had an arrangement: whenever Robinson would go to her husband’s house to discuss terms of the divorce, she would call or text Snowden to let her know she was okay.

On the night of April 21, 2014, Robinson went to her husband’s house but stopped responding to Snowden’s texts. Snowden testified Thursday she became worried, grabbed her son, and went over to check on her.

Snowden said that when Gilbert Robinson answered the door, he was shirtless and wearing long johns. She said he seemed "nonchalant,” adding, “he didn't appear to be upset. It was just like, ‘Oh, Gina fell down the stairs.'"

She told court she saw Robinson at the bottom of the basement stairs, and blood on the wall and floor.

"I saw her lying there. She looked like a rag doll. I screamed at the top of my lungs,” Snowden testified.

"She had raccoon eyes; they were black and blue... Her hair, which is blonde, looked red. She had dried blood across her nose and mouth… Her right shoulder was right up against the drywall and her head was completely tilted."

Snowden told the 911 dispatcher Robinson was unconscious and having trouble getting air, saying her breathing was laboured and “almost like uh, not a gurgly sound but a groaning, kind of.”

The dispatcher told her she was doing a good job and that paramedics were on the way.

“I’m scared,” Snowden told her.

“They're coming as fast as they can,” the dispatcher responded.

Robinson was rushed to hospital, where doctors found she had suffered extensive blunt force trauma. She was taken off life support and died two days later.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Angela Jung

Photos

The Edmonton home where Gina Robinson was found fatally injured on April 21, 2014.